Weekend fun and New Hobbies

First I will tell you about my new hobby...Quilting! It has been proven to be alot of fun. When I was young I would sit with my Great Grandmother as she would sew. She was amazing at it. She could take something we were wearing turn it into a pattern and then make it. Last year when Joe and I moved to Uruguay a good friend of ours named Toni began to teach me some of the basics of sewing and quilting. Then when we moved to Sao Paulo, I met Sue! Sue has moved my desire to learn to quilt into a reality. I am currently finishing my first Sampler quilt, a sampler quilt is a quilt where ever block is different, each block uses a different technique or method and so you learn to do it all while making it.
So on Saturday, Joe and I, along with many of the ladies that are a part of my quilting group went to the "Gaudi House". Named after an arcitect from Spain whose style was very similar. Estevao, the owner of the home has spent the last 23 years creating this masterpeice and it still working on it. We had so much fun, the home has many differnt levels and different ways to get up to the roof, I can only compare it to cave exploration. Last year the BBC wrote an article about him and his house. You can read it at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7016930.stm.






Quilting pictures coming soon!

Protective Frustrations

In the past couple of weeks I learned about a couple of things that annoy me but are in place for my own protection. The first is American Express. We love the points we get with our American Airlines American Express card, and it helps keep us from getting taken because of the protections in place. But they have a glitch in their computer system. Every month the special notes on our account are cleared out....So the special note saying we live outside the US gets erased every month. So We get the privilege of calling them from Brazil every month because our card gets marked as suspicion of theft by AmX's LP department. So I have gotten so accustom to the questions that I can answer them before they ask. During a current travel trip Joe and I were responsible for several hotel rooms and food for a team of people. We we went ahead and called AmX ahead of time to let the know we would have several charges at different places. The hotel clerk entered the wrong expiration date and thus starting the problem, he ran it again and of course that blocked all charges. I called them back 45 minutes after talking to them the first time. Answered all their questions and explained hoe embarrassing it is to be standing with a group of people who expect for everything to be already taken care of. The nice lady on the phone explained what happened and that it is a computer service that blocks all charges at that point, and they only do it for our protection. I wanted to tell them to stop protecting us so much, but then realized the minute I said that my card would have been stolen. So we are appreciative for their protection, even though it can be frustrating! The second occurrence of frustration is at the bank we use in Brazil to pay our bills. Because robberies are so common in Brazil all banks have security guards with machine guns. But they also have a revolving door that everyone has to use and it has a metal detector connected to it. So for people like me who are always moving about the city with a backpack on which has random paper clips and change stuffed in all crevasses, I always get stuck in the revolving door and then you have back out and try again after about three tries their are others waiting to get and my blood pressure is rising. The object is that I put my backpack in a cubby hole outside the bank that doesn't lock. I don't think so. Instead I wait for a bank manager to override the machine and let me in. What are some of your protective frustrations?

Sweet 16 at 25

Yesterday I had an amazing birthday!!!!!!! It started with waking up and getting a few minutes of quality time with my hubby, and then off to teach at 7:30. From there I headed to bible study where I was met with so many warm welcomes and a beautiful cake and of course the birthday song! It was a really relaxed day and rather enjoyable! Last night was little cold, actually really cold, so not cute summer dress for me. But once I was ready in my fun wool Argentinian wrap skirt and pink cashmere sweater, I wanted to get a picture but I had to find the earrings I wanted to wear and Joe kept telling me not to worry about them. I love little bags that come with little boxes and sparkly things inside! Joe took me to an amazing Italian restaurant. We had so much fun, This past week we spent time reminiscing about past birthdays. 16 wasn't anymore exciting than others. I got my driving permit late(I think because of the timing of Driver's Ed) and so I knew I wasn't going to the DMV on my birthday. And I knew what car I was getting, Old White Lightning as some called her. She was an '82' Toyota Corolla with leprosy spots of rust, But a good little car to me. What I do remember is that my best friend Stephanie and her mom walked to my house with a cake, just to sing to me! And thinking back farther, I really only had one other birthday that stood out to me, I was 7 or 8. I got to invite about 10 friends to go to Chi-chi's restaurant in Chicago. I got to where the big sombrero and we had a pinata, I even got a barbie or two. The big surprise last night at the end was the amazing giant snowball cotton candy cake they brought out! Birthdays in Brazil are HUGE, bigger than Christmas. People pay all year just to have big amazing birthdays. So every restaurant does something special. But I could have never dreamed for a more fun birthday cake. Thank you to all who were a part of my special day and to all of you who sent me wonderful greeting! 24 was an amazing year, and I 25 with be just as fun and adventurous! I love you all.

Pollution, and their affects

This week has been extremely hot to still be winter here. It was 88/90 degrees. Which has felt great during the day! The only problem with it is in the winter it doesn't rain often, so the pollution in the city gets really bad. In the mornings as the sun comes up the sky is very pretty, but in a strange orange nuclear glow kind of way.


For a couple of days now we have had this little gray ladybug living in our apartment. Most people would have put him outside but I felt bad for him because he was gray. I thought that he was gray as a defect from living in a polluted city. But the Internet has proven me wrong! Their are over 5000 different species of ladybugs. This one is just happy in our house.

P.S. This isn't my picture. This one is better.
I also thought I would share one more ironic picture with you.

This isn't me just hating on the Hilton, although I say away from staying there (I'd rather not help expand Paris's shoe collection) But the contrast here is very common for Brazil. You can be in the nicest neighborhood and find the poorest right around the corner.

Weekend Recap

This weekend was really busy for us. Friday started the excitement with an explosion in our kitchen! That is right folks you read right. Some of you know that I love to bake/cook. I made some dough for bagels Friday morning and then had to go to a class, and the dough needed time to rise. SO I prepared the dough, put it in a bowl and then in the oven(it wasn't on) and I left. I got home 3 hours later opened the oven and like a cartoon character my eyes got as big as they possibly could. The dough had risen so much, it overflowed the bowl and went all over the oven. Adding the wonderful activity of cleaning the oven to my already long list of to-do's for that afternoon!(But the bagels were a hit in a country that doesn't know what a bagel is).
This weekend Joe and I had a leadership weekend with our church. We were able to do some team building, make some good decisions for the future and good of the church. We were able to get to know each other better and have some great fellowship. We also got to meet and hang out with some of the staff from Christian Associates. They all had so many interesting and thought provoking and faith strengthening things to say. On Sunday we all went out to an Artisan Fair type of area and then headed to church where two more joined us! Our dear friends from Uruguay, Matt and Toni Daniels! We had so much fun catching up with them!

The Mott's in Rio de Janiero

This past week Joe and I were in Rio de Janiero! It was so much fun. Though the week was spent working, we were still able to see the major sights (from a distance). It has a much different feel to it than Sao Paulo. It is pretty, and the constant breeze coming off the ocean helps to clear out any pollution. The week consisted on filming 3 testimonies and a music video, which also included the recording of the music video also. In all it was a very productive trip, almost all of the production for the broadcast is finished. Their is still a lot to be done, editing and training, etc. Please keep praying for the office and the broadcast as it is quickly approaching! Enjoy the pictures.

Us in Copacabana.


The cultural differences when ordering fried fish( I never thought it would come with the head, tail, fins and eyes).


The famous Christo.


The music video shoot with Grammy winner Aline Barros.